An online auction drew no takers for the sponsorship. A lowtech method, namely the telephone, carried the day.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
The Trenton-based Capital Health Systems has won the honor of sponsoring the Lawrenceville Farmers Market but not through its submission of a bid to online auction house eBay.
Capital Health Systems resorted to the old-fashioned way of contacting Lawrenceville Main Street by way of the telephone to make its bid of $3,000 for corporate sponsorship of the farmers market, said Ken Weingarten. He serves on Lawrenceville Main Street’s Business Development Committee.
Lawrenceville Main Street, which is organizing the weekly farmer’s market on the grounds of Lawrenceville Fuel Co. on Gordon Avenue, sought to gain corporate sponsorship for the activity through an online auction process.
The hospital group wanted to submit a bid on eBay, but the corporate computer system’s firewall would not allow contact with the online auction house Web site, Mr. Weingarten said.
When the eBay auction closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday, no one had submitted a bid for the exclusive right to sponsor the farmers market. The auction started June 5. The minimum suggested bid was $3,000.
Mr. Weingarten said he was surprised at the lack of bidders, but he attributed it to the lack of publicity about the online auction. Lawrenceville Main Street officials were not even certain that a farmers market would be held, and that delayed publicity about the online auction, he added.
The fledgling Lawrenceville Farmers Market is set to run every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning June 26 and ending Oct. 2. It will be held in the parking lot at Lawrenceville Fuel Oil Co. on Gordon Avenue.
Many of Lawrenceville Main Street’s activities depend on sponsorship, such as the Jubilee and the Music in the Park series and the new Lawrenceville Farmers Market is no exception, according to Lawrenceville Main Street officials.
Lawrenceville Main Street is a volunteer-driven, nonprofit civic improvement organization.